Mark Ward's book Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible is about the usefulness—no, need—for Christians to have multiple translations of the Bible. No translation of the Bible can perfectly communicate what the authors intended, but using different translations can bring us closer to the message. Ward starts the book by explaining how valuable the King James Version has been to the development of the English language. He mentions how the KJV is deeply rooted in our culture, sometimes in ways we don't even realize (and some things we think are from the Bible but aren't). Throughout the book he keeps coming back to the theme of how much we would lose if everyone stopped using the KJV. However, Authorized shows that languages change, and the English that was used 400 years ago no longer clearly communicates the Bible to modern English readers. For example, some words are no longer used in normal conversation, so people reading them would know they have to look them up (if they care to know what they're reading). More concerning are words for which the meanings have changed. Sometimes the modern meaning sort of makes sense in the context, so we don't even realize there may be a different meaning. If we misunderstand the words, we misunderstand the message. The thesis of the book is that using multiple translations of the Bible help us understand it. Different translations have their strengths and weaknesses because there are legitimate differences of opinion on how some passages should be understood and translated. The choices the King James Version translators made in the early 1600's may have been excellent choices for the citizens of England at that time, but some of them are confusing for modern English readers. Using different versions of the Bible increases the probability that we will understand the message the authors were trying to communicate.